This isn’t the traditional novel where the sweet, innocent girl finds her prince charming and they live happily-ever-after. If that’s what you’re looking for, look somewhere else.

Because in this story, no one gets out unscathed.

Aishe is running. Running from the burn of a love she knows will consume her.
Running from a soul mate she’s never even met.
If only she hadn’t been hired as a merch girl for the hottest indie band on earth.
If only she’d never laid eyes on its front man, Emil - intense, sexy, and so unlike the men of her culture.
If only she hadn’t fallen onto his lips, then into his bed.
If only her flame hadn’t exploded into a full-on forest fire.If only Emil’s heart didn’t belong to someone else.

Emil is running. Running from a broken heart.
Running from who he was with her.
If only Zoe hadn’t left.
If only Aishe hadn’t been right there.
If only she hadn’t been so damn gorgeous - insistent - different.
If only he could control himself around her.
If. Only.

Excerpt

AISHE

I come from a family that burns with love. You wouldn’t understand unless you were one of us. I’m not just talking my father and my mother—I’m talking every one of my ancestors. It’s in our genetic build to spend all of our energy on love.

Once we come of age, it strikes and blazes with a fire that eats you alive. This love is a plague that boils in my race and in my culture, and I wouldn’t know a different way unless I’d broken free and seen strangers love with milder flames.

Tonight, my eyes go from the merchandise on my table to the blond-headed burst of life hopping off the stage. His gaze shimmers with amusement, a cocky lip twitching as he slaps high-fives to guys and pinches girl-cheeks on his way over.

“Aishe! You got those super-tight, hot little tees with the broken heart thingy on the front? The ones the chicks dig?” he asks once he’s in front of me, Emil, the vocalist of Clown Irruption, one of the hottest alt-rock indie-bands out there. I’ve been their merch girl for a few months now. Each night, I zoom in on Emil with less and less difficulty.

“Yeah. Troll picked them up this morning,” I say referring to their tour manager.

“This is so cool—finally we see actual merch money,” Emil laughs out. Then he sets a hand to the table and squints at me. “You’ve done much better than your cousin. I mean, Shandor, man.” He shakes his head playfully. “He couldn’t draw dudes to the stand worth shit.”

My face loosens in a smile. I send a subtle glance at Shandor, who’s busy wrapping things up on stage, coiling cables and breaking down drums. To sell T-shirts wasn’t what he burned for. Shandor was born with the plague of our people too, but he hasn’t found his beloved yet. My people, we need something to obsess over, so if it’s not a man’s love for a woman or vice versa, it’s something else, and Shandor, he loves his music. Once the band promoted him from merch guy to monitors on stage, he recommended me to fill his spot, and voilà, here I am.

Shandor raises his head and stills on us, focus intent from under dark locks. He’s got a sixth sense for when guys chitchat with me. Like me, he left our traveling community years back, but the need to protect any girl of our people is so deep-rooted I doubt he ever questions it. Shandor would do everything in his power to stop any man, employer or not, from toying with his little cousin.

I straighten so that I’m tall for my height. Though I’m not overly curvy, I’m lean and strong. Supposedly, I’m also fiery, a bit fierce, a bit ferocious, traits that make me who I am, traits I don’t need here in the outside world as opposed to amongst those I was born to.

I intimidate most men with the stance I take right now, but I can’t intimidate Shandor. He glares, telling me without words what not to do, and next he pierces his stare into Emil’s back. Oblivious, Emil juts his index finger at the case of lukewarm beers behind me, wiggles it back and forth quickly, lips pursed in anticipation. “Hand over one of those babies, will ya?”

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

"You never know what you are going to get when you open up a Sunniva Dee book. Well, you do. You get great writing, real characters, angst, and emotion. What you don't know is where she'll take the story. And this book is no exception." ~ D. King

"Sunniva always pushes the envelope, and does it with expertise, but this time she has outdone even herself. Emil and Aishe’s story isn’t a cookie-cutter romance where everything falls neatly into place. These beautifully flawed characters suck you in and force you to experience their ups and downs." ~ Lynn Vroman

"Sunniva is BRILLIANT!!! This is not the typical contemporary romance. None of Sunniva's books are. Which is why I LOVE reading them! This is one of those creatively brilliant works in that it shows light by showing darkness; much of the book dealt with some dark, heavy issues, but it made the ending that much brighter." ~ Lauren Seiberling

"Kudos to Sunniva Dee for taking romance in a whole new and exciting direction." ~ Cheryl McIntyre

"First off, I have to say I love Sunniva's style of writing. It captures you and entwines you into the story. This story has all the angst, frustration, hope, love, so you are constantly left unbalanced. I loved Aishe, she was such an easy character to root for. While things get crazy, you know what is right and you cheer when things all clear up. Another incredible story by Sunniva Dee. A must read!" ~ Tracey Parker

About the Author

Between studies, teaching, and advising, Sunniva has spent her entire adult life in a college environment. Most of her novels are new adult romance geared toward smart, passionate readers with a love for eclectic language and engaging their brain as well as their heart while reading.

Born in the Land of the Midnight Sun, the author spent her early twenties making the world her playground: Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece), Argentina (Buenos Aires, in particular). The United States finally kept her interest, and after half a decade in Los Angeles, she now lounges in the beautiful city of Savannah.

This author is the happiest when her characters let their emotions run off with them, shaping her stories in ways she never foresaw. She loves bad-boys and good-boys run amok, and like in real life, her goal is to keep the reader on her toes until the end of each story.

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